Beckham takes a leaf out of Wilkinson's book

David Beckham has been putting in extra time on the training ground, honing the deadly free-kick skills that all of England will be hoping can make the difference against France.

While the rest of the England squad were enjoying an afternoon off on Thursday, Beckham was back at Lisbon's National Stadium, bending and curling dozens of balls over an imaginary wall in searing temperatures.

Even England's coach Sven-Goran Eriksson was taken slightly by surprise. "That was completely his own idea," the Swede revealed. "He was completely on his own."

Beckham can already lay claim to being the most consistently precise striker of a dead ball in world football.

But its not an ability he was born with. Meticulous attention to detail and a near obsessive commitment to practice have also played their part -- just as they did for England's rugby World Cup hero Jonny Wilkinson, with whom Beckham has become friendly as a result of their joint promotional activities for sportswear giants Adidas.

The All Blacks demonstrated on Saturday that sporting glory is always ephemeral but Beckham will nevertheless draw inspiration from Wilkinson's heroics in Australia last year when he runs out at the Stadium of Light here on Sunday.

The euphoric reception the rugby squad received on their return home in particular is something the England captain has found difficult to dislodge from his mind.

"I personally dreamt of what it would mean if the same thing happened with the football team when all that was actually happening," Beckham revealed.

"What people have got to think about is if that was big and so good, imagine what it would be like if the football team pulled off the same sort of thing. It would be incredible."

Beckham's poor end-of-season form for Real Madrid and Steven Gerrard's switch to the centre of midfield has led to suggestions that the Liverpool midfielder is poised to assume the captain's role as England's on-the-field leader.

But Eriksson remains convinced of Beckham's unique ability to drive his team-mates on to new heights.

"If you take all of the competitive games we've played and maybe even before I came, David Beckham lifts the England side and somehow feels that, as the captain, he maybe has to do more than the other players out there," Eriksson said.

"I don't know why exactly, but he loves England."